Cortnee Priour named SCAC Character & Community Student-Athlete of the Week

  
SEGUIN, Texas – Texas Lutheran Women's Track & Field All-American Cortnee Priour of Goliad, Texas has been named this week's Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Character & Community Female Student-Athlete of the Week for the week beginning March 25.
 
An All-American in the women's long jump at the 2018 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Priour is a nursing major at TLU. She is collecting her senior capstone/immersion hours with the pediatric emergency room at Methodist Children's Hospital in San Antonio.
 
"I originally became a nursing major after being in high school for awhile and deciding that I wanted to work with kids," said Priour. "So when I toured TLU, it ultimately brought me to their nursing program that was just now getting up and running. I thought it would be a good opportunity to look at."
 
Priour balances her nursing studies, the rest of her TLU class work, and track and field practice and competition with the many hours of her internship at Methodist Children's Hospital.
 
"It's been really fun and really crazy because we have had a lot of sick kids in the ER," said Priour. "Winter has been bad, but it has been really fun because it has opened my eyes to a whole new community. And I just love being with the children all the time."
 
"I've had great patients in the pediatric setting. All the kids are awesome. They are really fun to be around, and I've had great parents as well. It's kind of like you work not only with your nurses and your doctors, but you work with the family as a whole unit as well."
 
Priour will graduate this May and looks forward to a career as a nurse in a pediatric emergency room.
 
"For sure I wanted to do pediatrics in general, but after being in the ER, it is definitely 100 percent where I want to be," said Priour.
 
Before she graduates and before she starts her pediatric nursing career in the ER, Priour hopes to make a return to the national championship meet in women's track and field.
 
Priour finished seventh in the long jump at last season's DIII national championship meet. After qualifying 13th for the championship meet, she jumped a near-personal-best distance of 18 feet, 9.75 inches at nationals to grab an All-America award. The top eight in each national championship event qualify as an All-American.
 
"I think the highlight of my athletic career has been going to nationals last year and being an All-American, but I think what it has taught me about being a student-athlete is that you really have to prioritize and have good time management skills, especially being in nursing school and being a student-athlete," said Priour.